Appeals court restores DOGE access to
sensitive information at US agencies
Posted By: sunset, 4/8/2025 3:05:41 AM
An appeals court on Monday cleared the way for billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to once again access people’s private data at three federal agencies, a win for the Trump administration as the underlying lawsuit plays out. In a split ruling, the three-judge panel blocked a lower court decision that halted DOGE access at the Education Department, the Treasury Department and the Office of Personnel Management. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has also sided with the Trump administration in other cases, including allowing DOGE access to U.S. Agency for International Development and letting executive orders against diversity, equity and inclusion move forward.
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A federal appeals panel appeared sympathetic toward a claim that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has failed in its duty to veterans but also raised concerns that a trial judge may have overstepped his authority in a broad order requiring the agency to build more housing on its West Los Angeles campus.
“When you look at things that have occurred on this property, I struggle with how some of the things the VA did benefited veterans at all,” presiding Judge Consuelo M. Callahan said early in the proceeding.
But she added, “I guess the remedies here are what caused me concern, the reach of what Judge Carter [ordered].”
A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the White House to restore the Associated Press’s access to presidential events, saying that the decision to impose limitations violated the news organization’s free speech rights.
U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden ruled that it was unconstitutional for the Trump administration to punish the AP because it refused to change its style guidance for the Gulf of Mexico, which President Trump renamed the Gulf of America. McFadden ordered the White House to restore the AP’s access to the Oval Office, Air Force One, “and other limited spaces when such spaces are made open to other members of the White House press pool.”
DOGE and State Department eliminate DEI
evaluation requirement imposed by Biden Administration 4 replies
evaluation requirement imposed by Biden Administration 4 replies
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and the State Department worked closely together to eliminate the requirement that foreign service officers' performance be evaluated based on the principles of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). This change ends a measure put in place during the Biden Administration, which dictated that 20% of diplomats' performance evaluations must be based on DEI-related efforts. Through a social media post, DOGE reported that, in conjunction with the State Department, it has worked to eliminate this requirement, which did not reflect the true merit of officials. DOGE maintains that evaluations should focus exclusively on professional performance and efficiency,
An appeals court on Monday cleared the way for billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to once again access people’s private data at three federal agencies, a win for the Trump administration as the underlying lawsuit plays out.
In a split ruling, the three-judge panel blocked a lower court decision that halted DOGE access at the Education Department, the Treasury Department and the Office of Personnel Management. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has also sided with the Trump administration in other cases, including allowing DOGE access to U.S. Agency for International Development and letting executive orders against diversity, equity and inclusion move forward.
U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. has temporarily barred a lower court’s order to return Maryland man Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, an alleged MS-13 gang member involved in human trafficking who was deported to an El Salvador mega prison, to the United States by Monday at midnight.
Roberts issued an administrative stay, immediately halting the Federal judge’s demand for Abrego Garcia’s return.
Abrego Garcia was deported on March 15, 2025, during a mass deportation operation that targeted nearly 240 alleged members of Latin American gangs.
A hefty 54% tax imposed by President Donald Trump on imports from China poses an existential crisis for San Francisco's Chinatown businesses, which have just started to bounce back after pandemic losses. Nany Yu travels to China every April to meet with suppliers and manufacturers. This time, a lot is riding on the trip as she hopes to strike a deal to avoid passing the high import tax. Everything in her gift shop comes direct from overseas. In the past, Chinatown businesses found a tariff workaround by having suppliers send goods to Vietnam, Latin America, or Africa. Now, with President Trump's sweeping tariffs across the globe, they have fewer options.
A flood of discounted Chinese imports is set to compound the economic dangers to Europe from Donald Trump’s tariffs, analysts warn, prompting Brussels to prepare measures to protect itself from a wave of cheap goods from Asia.
The direct impact of the US president’s 20 per cent levy on EU products has sparked fears about the outlook for the bloc’s embattled manufacturers, who are already reeling from US levies on cars and steel.
But the severity of Trump’s tariffs on economies such as China and Vietnam means Brussels is now on alert for an influx of Asian products such as electrical goods and machine appliances being diverted into its own markets.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is already collecting over $200 million per day in extra revenue as it enforces a massive new wave of tariffs under President Donald Trump's "Liberation Day" plan. "CBP has successfully implemented 13 tariff-related presidential actions during this Administration," a CBP spokesperson said in a statement to FOX Business. "Serving on America’s frontline, CBP strictly enforces all laws and Presidential directives to secure our economic sovereignty."
Using powers under the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), the Trump administration is targeting goods from dozens of countries, including China.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday said that he is taking actions to revoke all visas held by South Sudanese passport holders and to restrict any further issuance to prevent entry into the United States. The reason for the move is the failure of South Sudan's transitional government to accept the return of its repatriated citizens in a timely manner, Rubio said on social media.
"I am taking actions to revoke all visas held by South Sudanese passport holders and to restrict any further issuance to prevent entry into the United States, effective immediately, due to the failure of South Sudan's transitional government to accept the return.."
Parent of trans student wins key ruling
in lawsuit against California district
over disclosure 5 replies
in lawsuit against California district
over disclosure 5 replies
A federal appeals court reinstated a lawsuit against a Northern California school district by a mother who was not told that her 11-year-old child had identified as transgender. The court did not say whether the district had violated the mother’s rights, however, and instead set guidelines for the judge who had previously dismissed the suit. While the Supreme Court has upheld “the fundamental right of parents to make decisions concerning the care, custody, and control of their children,” that right “is not unlimited,” said the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The court told U.S. District Judge Mendez to determine whether rights claimed were “deeply rooted in this nation’s history"
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on Friday announced it would redirect $895 million from a woke infrastructure program to aid disaster relief, Breitbart News has learned exclusively. “The BRIC program was yet another example of a wasteful and ineffective FEMA program. It was more concerned with political agendas than helping Americans effected by natural disasters. The BRIC program was created as part of the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, otherwise known as the so-called infrastructure bill, which is known to have many leftist carveouts.
California Governor Gavin Newsom said he has directed his administration to "look at new opportunities to expand trade" as he tries to steer his state around President Donald Trump's sprawling import tariffs. In a post on X, Newsom addressed the U.S.'s global trading partners, writing "California is here and ready to talk." It comes after a Fox News report revealed that Newsom is directing his state to pursue "strategic" relationships with countries announcing retaliatory tariffs against the U.S., urging them to exclude California-made products from those taxes.
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The cuts made to the so-called “foreign aid” agency USAID (which doesn’t actually have humanitarianism as its primary purpose) in the first days of the Trump 2.0 administration affected various global vaccine initiatives, many of which were pet projects of self-styled philanthropist Bill Gates.In an attempt to ensure these projects remain federally funded, Gates has reportedly been quietly lobbying the administration behind the scenes to protect the billions that flow to his “non-profit” ventures.
Putting aside the ultimate question of why Bill Gates isn’t under a federal prison, why do we allow creatures like this to slink around the White House trying to convince Trump,
The acting head of the Internal Revenue Service will resign in the wake of a deal struck on behalf of the agency that will see it share tax data on undocumented immigrants.
Melanie Krause, a commissioner at the IRS who is the third person to serve as its chief since the start of the year, will pack up her desk as part of the deferred resignation program offered by the Trump administration, the Treasury Department announced Tuesday.
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Chinese producers of plastic Christmas trees and other festive decorations say orders from U.S. clients, which are crucial for their business, should have started to come in by now. But because of surging import tariffs, they haven't.
U.S. President Donald Trump has raised tariffs on Chinese imports by 104% so far this year in an escalating trade war that threatens great pain for the world's largest exporter of manufactured goods.
U.S. retailers are almost completely reliant on China for Christmas decorations, where they source 87% of such goods - worth roughly $4 billion. Chinese factories are also heavily dependent on the U.S. market, where they sell half of what they make.
Senator Adam Schiff on Wednesday called on Congress to investigate whether President Donald Trump engaged in insider trading or market manipulation when he abruptly paused a sweeping set of tariffs, a move that sent stock prices skyrocketing.
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Schiff’s comments regarding a formal inquiry, which has not been previously reported, came soon after the S&P 500 surged more than 9% Wednesday afternoon after Trump announced the tariff pause.
On Tuesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Source,” Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) responded to a question on whether Democrats should have reclaimed congressional power on tariffs when they were in the majority during the Biden administration by stating that “Congress has always had the power to deal with tariffs, and we’ve always had these fights in the past on some of the tariff issues as well. But now that Trump is going so overboard, Congress can, has every legal authority to take those powers back, and that’s what we aim to do.”
Host Brianna Keilar asked, “On the tariff issue, you’ve been in the Senate for more than
ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos reportedly said his post-debate interview with former President Joe Biden was "heartbreaking up close."
Chris Whipple's new book, titled "Uncharted: How Trump Beat Biden, Harris, and the Odds in the Wildest Campaign in History," which was released on Tuesday, recounted behind-the-scenes conflicts between members of the Democratic Party and the Biden administration over whether Biden needed to step out of the race after his disastrous debate with then-candidate Donald Trump on June 27.
To "staunch the bleeding" of Democrats beginning to publicly call for replacing Biden on the ticket, Whipple wrote about how the White House accepted an interview
Americans have seen a lot of Tim Walz lately as the failed vice-presidential candidate has held town halls nationally criticizing national Republicans. In a telling interview, he admitted to the New York Magazine this week, “90% of the time, I can be really good, but about 10% of the time, I can be a train wreck.”
And in an interview with Jake Tapper that was itself something of a train wreck, he rejected the conclusion that every American with a pulse now acknowledges: that Walz and other Democrats should have forced Joe Biden off the presidential ticket in light of his obvious cognitive decline.
China is slapping 84 percent tariffs on U.S. goods from Thursday, ramping the impost up from the 34 percent as previously announced, its finance ministry said on Wednesday.
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President Trump wants to get America’s vast army of “dropout” men back into the workforce. Attention to this problem is long overdue.
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But Team Trump is trying to fix the problem with the wrong tools.
They argue that trade policy (tariffs) and industrial policy (special treatment for manufacturing) will reverse the long-term flight from work by men, by creating high-paying jobs to lure them back to work.
This approach may sound sensible to some. Unfortunately, it is likely to fail
Mia is no longer with us at Townhall, but before she left for the Washington Examiner, she wrote a harrowing and tragic story about a fatal stabbing at a high school track meet in Frisco, Texas, last week: (X Video) 17-year-old Karmelo Sincere Anthony is accused of killing Austin Metcalf, 17, around 10 a.m. at the sporting event, a track-and-field championship involving several Dallas-area schools in Frisco, Texas.
Metcalf, a junior at Memorial High School, was in the stands when he was fatally stabbed following an altercation over a seat.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) has declared a state of emergency for Albuquerque, ordering the National Guard to help combat crime in the state’s largest city. “The safety of New Mexicans is my top priority,” Lujan Grisham said in a statement. “This partnership represents our commitment to addressing the fentanyl crisis and juvenile crime with every resource at our disposal.” Lujan Grisham, a former member of Congress who is term limited, said the New Mexico National Guard will assist Albuquerque police with essential duties so the city’s law enforcement officers “can focus on what they do best — keeping our communities safe.”
Former first lady Michelle Obama has hit back at rumors she and husband Barack are headed for divorce, blaming the rampant speculation on her decision to exercise her newfound independence.
The 61-year-old broke her silence on Sophia Bush’s “Work in Progress” podcast Wednesday after the Obamas were dogged by gossip that their marriage was on the rocks when she opted to skip several high-profile events earlier this year — including President Trump’s inauguration.
“The interesting thing is that, when I say ‘no,’ for the most part people are like, ‘I get it, and I’m OK,’”
Comments:
DOGE is still blocked from the Social Security Administration